


Neverland (The Kids of District Nine)

by aka_kpop_05



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, I’m bad at summaries, M/M, felix and chan are cousins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-06-05 12:42:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15170993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aka_kpop_05/pseuds/aka_kpop_05
Summary: In a world where being different is equal to being a criminal, Lee Felix has constantly fought off thoughts and feelings that would get him cast out of society. His only comfort coming from his cousin Chan. Where Chan goes, Felix follows.What happens when Chan gets sent off to the place Felix has been afraid to go his whole life?





	1. Two Years Ago // Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thank you so much for clicking on my story. Hope you enjoy!

**_Two Years Ago_ **

 

“Felix! Hey, wake up!”

 

Just as Felix starts to fall into a deep slumber, he is awoken by a familiar voice accompanied by a finger poking into his ribs. He slowly opens eyes, taking in the darkly dressed figure staring right back at him.

 

“Chan? What are you doing here?” His cousin just smiles at him and holds up a plate Felix hadn’t noticed he was holding. Felix looks up at the smiling boy, now even more confused.

 

“Up for a late night snack? I didn’t feel like eating this by myself.” Chan sets himself down on the bed beside the sleepy boy. After shifting around a bit to make himself more comfortable, he takes out two forks from his coat pocket.

 

Felix cranes his neck to try and get a look at what was on the plate, having to do a double take once he sees the treat. Quickly sitting up, Felix stares at his excited looking cousin with wide eyes. “Is that cake? Where did you get it?”

 

“I have a friend over in District Eight that knows how to make it. She sent a piece to me.” The pale boy explains through a mouthful of the sugary treat. “Her uncle taught her how to make tons of things before the sugar ban.”

 

Felix and Chan continue to eat the small piece of cake in silence, the only sound being from forks rubbing against the plate in efforts to get every last crumb. Getting up to set the plate on Felix’s neat desk, Chan makes his way back to the bed.

 

Felix studies the face of the boy in front of him, taking in the dark circles under his eyes. “Now that we're done eating your contraband, what’s the real reason you snuck out of your house after district curfew?” Chan stops trying to wiggle his way and under the warm covers and looks at the freckled boy.

 

Chan sighs and lets his shoulders drop from the tense position they have been in since he climbed through the window. “I never could hide anything from you could I?” He chuckles tiredly.

 

“Is it about tomorrow? You know everything will go okay right?”

 

“I know it will, but i'm still nervous. This is my eighteenth birthday, which means im going to find out what job I’ve been assigned to.” Chan tightens his first around the bed sheet “I'm just nervous I won’t like whatever they give me,” Chan looks down with slightly watery eyes.  

 

Felix gently prys the white sheet out of Chans tight grasp and takes his hand in his much smaller one.

 

“You shouldn’t worry about something like that. They have been watching us since we were babies to make sure we like and are good at-”

 

“I leave for my trip to District Nine tomorrow.” Chan interrupts his younger cousin. Felix looks up at Chan, finally grasping what was really making him so on edge.

 

“I-I thought you didn’t make the birthday cut to go this year, you’re supposed to go next year.” Felix can hear his voice start to slowly grow louder. Chan gently shushes him. “What happened?”

 

“One of the kids who was supposed to go was hospitalized and isn’t able to go. I was next on the list so they’re sending me early.”

 

The two boys sit in silence as Felix digests this information.

 

“Everything will be okay you know. People go every year.” Chan tries calming the fourteen year old down before he wakes his sleeping parents.

 

“I know… but Channie, its just so dangerous there. What if you get hurt?” Chan may be his cousin, but he has always been the one Felix goes to whenever he needs something. He doesn’t even want to imagine something happening to him.

 

Chan grabs Felix by the shoulders, making him look the older straight in the eyes.

 

“Felix, I will never let you feel alone.”

 

“I know.”

 

Chan would never let him feel alone, and as the two boys slowly drift off into sleep, the fourteen year old makes a silent promise to himself to never let the older boy feel alone either.

 


	2. Two Years Ago // Part 2

**_Two Years Ago, Continued..._ **

 

The next morning, Felix wakes up to an already empty bed. The only evidence of Chan’s late night visit being a note left on the desk.

 

‘I snuck out before your parents woke up. Have a good day at school! Don’t worry about me too much, everything will be alright :).’

 

Felix smiled at the little smiley face drawn at the end of the note before taking out a school workbook and sticking it in one of the pages.

 

He notices a black sweatshirt left on the desk chair. Chan must have forgotten it last night. Felix folds the piece clothing and puts it in his closet, he'll just return it whenever he sees the older boy.

 

He sighs before putting on his spotless white citizen uniform. After grabbing his bag from the closet he made his way downstairs. Felix is used to being alone in the morning as his parents leave for work really early, but now that Chan is gone for the day, everything just seems extra lonely.

 

Walking to the front door, he held out his thumb to be scanned as the machine dispensed a little red pill. Felix swallowed his breakfast pill quickly as he left to catch the train. Eating proper food had been said to be too time consuming, so now it is only allowed for dinner. All the nutrition you need is in the little medicine capsule you take every morning.

 

Stepping onto the pavement, Felix bowed to the nearby guard before making his way down the street. Since his father is fairly high up in the government, his family lives in a nice part of town.

 

Though, that really only means his two bedroom white house is closer to town than everybody else's two bedroom white house.

 

Felix takes a look at his watch. “Crap. Oh shit!” He takes off sprinting down the street, earning him a dirty look from an older lady who was walking by. He has no time to worry about her though, his train leaves in five minutes.

 

After finally squeezing his way into one of the crowded trains, he slumps down in one of the seats, trying to catch his breath.

 

He starts rummaging around his bag to check if he finished last night's homework when he hears the conversation the two girls beside him are having.

 

“Did you hear about the boy from District Two?"

 

Her friend who had been straightening out her long white skirt turned to look at her. “The kid that was sent to Nine?”

 

“Yeah, apparently he was caught singing at after school! He must have thought everyone had left, but a teacher caught him. How stupid do you have to be to do something like that? Everyone knows that music is against the law.” She flicks her long black hair over her shoulder. “I don't even know why you would _want_ to sing!”

 

“I know! I mean, it's banned for a reason. It probably sounds horrible.” The two girls giggle.

 

Felix tunes out after that. He thinks back to all the times when Chan has snuck into his room after his parents have fallen asleep. He does it every year before exams because he knows how scared Felix gets.

 

He thinks about how on those nights, when Felix can’t sleep, Chan quietly sings to him.

 

Felix doesn’t think it sounds horrible at all.

\---------

 

Felix’s school day goes by how it always does, everything from yesterday feeling like it was copy and pasted into today. Except today, Felix can’t help but feel on edge. There’s a nagging feeling something has changed, but he just can’t figure out what.

 

Felix took his time getting home, looking around at the sparse trees and tall buildings trying to see if something was different. Everything still looked the same, so what the hell is bugging him so much?

 

Nearing his house he sees that his father's car is in the driveway. That's another perk about being a government official, you get a car. Everyone else has to walk or take the bus everywhere.

 

Felix checks his watch. The unsettled feeling in his stomach grows stronger. His father is home an hour early.

 

Stepping up to the cement step in front of his door, he hesitates going in. Slowly putting in the passcode, he quietly opens the door, only to be greeted with the sight of his parents sitting at the dining table.

 

“Mother, father,” He bows to them before taking his shoes off and setting his bag down next to his shoes.

 

Mother stood. “Felix, please have a seat. We have something to tell you.”

 

Felix could hear his heartbeat in his ears as he sat down in the chair directly across from his parents. Both of their faces were stone cold so there was no telling what was about to be spoken of. However, the butterflies in Felix’s stomach tells him its nothing good.

 

“Is everything alright?”

 

Felix's mother glanced at his father, but his eyes were concentrated only on his son. “Felix, it seems that Chan has gotten into some trouble.”

 

Felix felt his blood turn to ice. Hesitantly he asked, “What kind of trouble?”

 

His mother decided to speak up, “Chan had been caught sneaking off with some kids from District Nine today during his field trip.” She looks him in the eyes as she spoke, he didn’t see any pity in the dark brown orbs. “When they found him, he was singing and dancing with them.”

 

Oh Channie, why would you do this? You promised.

 

“What does this mean? What are they going to do to him?” Felix could feel tears start to well up in his eyes, clouding his vision.

 

His father looked him in the eye.

 

“Chan will not be coming back from his trip. He has been banished to District Nine.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this chapter. Hope you enjoyed! 
> 
> Next chapter will be out soon...<3


	3. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix has been without his best friend for more than two years. He's starting to realize just how much of an impact his cousin made on his life.

**_Present Day…_ **

 

Felix never really understood the saying ‘You never realize how important something is to you, until that thing is gone’. He always thought that it would be silly to let something that can be taken away so easily mean so much to you.

 

He gets it now though. The moment Chan was taken away, he got it.

There are some mornings when Felix wakes up expecting to see his cousins dark eyes smiling back at him, but instead finds a cold, empty house.

 

Though, it’s times like right now he misses the boy the most. It’s Felix’s sixteenth birthday today, and Chan’s not here to celebrate with him. No one has actually said anything regarding his birthday at all, not that it’s surprising. Birthdays aren’t a thing that is really celebrated anymore, people say it's unnecessary to make a big deal about something that happens every year.

 

Chan had always insisted on making Felix’s birthday feel like the biggest event of the year, and to be honest, Felix had always loved all the attention he got on that day from his favorite person in the world.

 

Now, sitting in the middle of math class, Felix feels absolutely lousy. He hadn’t noticed that he started to drift off into dreamland until he hears a loud crack followed by a shrill voice.

 

“Student 091500, Lee Felix! Please turn your attention back to the board!”

 

Hearing his name be called he quickly focused on the holographic board in the front of the classroom, ignoring the snickers coming from his peers.

 

‘Only one more class until I can go home’ Felix reminds himself.

 

Felix is thankful when last period goes by without a hitch. After getting his bag from his locker, Felix leaves as fast as the crowded hallway allows. It’s actually fairly easy considering how everybody tries to avoid touching him. Every once in a while he hears his name in the surrounding sea of whispers.

 

“Hey Felix! You know, it’s been almost two years since that freak cousin of yours was sent to the hell hole. I hope you know you deserve to  be there right beside him. I saw the way you were looking at that boy in science class, you freak.” He sighs heavily as he just continues walking, ignoring the insults they keep throwing at him.

 

He stopped trying to defend himself a while ago. Chan used to protect him from the bullies, but now that he’s gone there's nobody to stand up for him. And Felix sure as hell won’t fight back, he values his life enough to know better than to do that.

 

He makes it outside to see his father's car waiting in front of the school building. Felix curiously walked over to the passengers side and looked through the window. He made quick eye contact with his father.

 

“Well son, are you going to get in the car, or just sit there with a dumb look on your face?”

 

“Uh yeah, sorry sir.” mumbling his apology Felix quickly got into the vehicle. To say this was strange would be an understatement. His father has not once picked his son up from school. Hell, Felix could count on one hand the amount of times he’s ever been in his father's car.

 

They drove out of the school zone in silence. Felix looked out the window, trying to suppress the urge to ask his father why he picked him up. Was it a surprise for his birthday? Maybe he’s taking him out for dinner at a restaurant his mother is currently waiting at to surprise him! The thought, while he knows is unlikely, makes him giddy.

 

They soon pull up to a crowded park where the children who just got out of school and the adults who got out of work are spending their afternoon. They get out of the car, Felix follows his father to a nearby bench. He looks around, now more confused than he was before. This is definitely not a fancy restaurant, and his mother is nowhere in sight.

 

“Felix, as you know, today is your sixteenth birthday.” He did remember! Felix felt butterflies in his chest. “As you are now almost an adult, I have decided that starting tomorrow, you will be job shadowing me at the office.” All the butterflies simultaneously drop dead upon hearing those words.  

 

“What? Father I have told you before that I do not want to work in the government.” Felix pleaded.

 

His father scoffed. “What nonsense! Of course you want to. Besides, it doesn’t matter what you want. What matters is how much honor you will bring back to this family.” Looking his son in the eye when he says, “After all, we need as much as we can get after the delinquent that was my nephew was banished.”

 

Felix could feel himself grow irritated at his father's words. “Father, he is still your nephew. Don’t you think it’s a bit harsh to speak of him in such a way?”

 

“I stopped caring about that boy when he was selfish enough to bring such dishonor upon this family. He only cared for himself.” Felix sat there silently, his hands scrunched in a tight fist. He was making his best effort not to talk back to his father. “One day, you will also see how he never really cared about anyone. Not even you.”

 

Felix could see red.

 

“No.” It was barely a whisper, but it was enough for his father to hear him.

 

“What did you say?”

 

“I said ‘No’. You’re wrong!” Felix was talking very loudly at this point, catching the attention of everyone around him. He couldn’t stop though. Suddenly a lifetime of pent up frustration was let loose.

 

“Watch what you are saying young man.” His father warned. He looked as mad as Felix felt. That didn’t stop Felix though.

 

“No! I will not! I can’t let you say these things about the only person I have ever truly felt cared about me. He cared about everyone!” And it was true. Felix couldn’t count all the times Chan has stuck up for a kid getting picked on, or how many times he has helped an old lady cross the street.

 

“And you know what? I don’t think what Chan did was even that bad!” His father looked shocked a his confession. His grandfather was one of the elders who put the music ban into law. It greatly disappoints him that his son could be so reckless as to say such a thing.

 

“Felix, get your bag. We are going home.” His father looked eerily calm.

 

Felix felt panic bubble in his chest. He can’t go back to the house, his father will still make him train to go into government. He can’t do it. He can’t become one of the people that sent Chan away. One of the people who sent his _real_ home away, because that’s who Chan is. His home.

 

Felix gets an idea. It’s stupid, but it will work. He has to get to Chan. After all, they did promise each other to never let the other feel alone.

 

Felix slowly reaches for his bag while his father's back is turned. Felix keeps the sweatshirt Chan left in his school bag. He only ever takes it out to wear when he can’t sleep. Felix quickly slips it on over his citizen uniform, the dark black of the sweatshirt contrasting against the white of the uniform.

 

When his father turns back around his eyes get comically wide. “Felix! Take that off this instant. There are guards right over there!” The nearby guards start making their way over to them. Felix would most likely only get a warning. He had to take it up a level. Felix thinks of the song Chan always used to sing to him.

 

_“I wanna live my age, naturally ey ey_

 

_Fly with my young wings, spread my wings ey ey.”_

 

Felix hears a gasp when he start singing the words. He doesn’t really know who from though. By this time, all the people in the park are looking at him. He hops up onto the park bench. He continues as loud as he can,

 

_"It was nice when I acted like an adult_

 

_But I don't wanna change, even If they say I'm immature."_

 

Felix sees guards running at him. He starts moving his body along to his singing. He doesn’t exactly know how to dance, he's never even seen it. He just knows you do it when you listen to a song. He tries his best.

 

_"Even if I’m bad at it, I like the word beginning._

 

_It’s foolish, but I'm still young._

 

_It's hard to become-”_

 

Felix couldn’t even get the next line out before he was being violently pulled off the bench by a guard. He was shoved down on the ground so he had to sit on his knees. He tried to keep singing but one of the guards put their hands over his mouth.

 

Felix kept struggling as one of the guards had to pin him down so they could handcuff him. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck.

 

Felix starts feeling lightheaded. He has a quick realization that they just gave him a tranquilizer. His vision starts to blur as the dizzy feeling gets stronger.

 

The last thing he sees before he completely blacks out is the disappointed face of his father staring down at him.

 

He’d never felt more alive.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter! It's the longest one I've written so far and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. <3<3 Feedback is appreciated


	4. The Holding Cell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix wakes up in a holding cell in god knows where. He meets a strange boy, who might end up being the friend Felix has been needing.

Felix’s head felt like it was about to explode.

He groaned as he sat up from where he had been passed out. His let his eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. Felix reached up to brush his hair out of his face when he noticed the shackles digging into his wrists.

“What the hell?” He felt panic bubble in his chest. He started pulling and shaking them as hard as he could, banging them against the concrete ground in hopes of them breaking off. “C’mon please.” He could hear the crack in his voice as he finally realized what he had actually just gotten himself into.

“It’s no use, they’re made of steel. There’s no breaking these puppies off.”

Felix jumped at the unfamiliar voice. He squinted his eyes to try and see through the darkness of the small room. He crawls over to the cell door on the opposite side of the room looking out across a dimly lit hallway.

There is a young boy sitting in the room on the opposite side of the hallway, his face slightly obscured by the bars of the cell door.

“Hi there.” The boy smiles at him through the bars.

“Um. Hello.” How is this boy so calm? More importantly, who the hell is he?  “Where are we?”

“No idea. My guess is a train or jet considering the size.” The boy moves to where his whole face is slightly illuminated by the dim hallway light. Felix is finally able to get a good look at the young boy’s round eyes and chubby cheeks.

“I’m Han.”

“Felix.” Felix returned Han’s kind smile with a timid one of his own. What kind of name first name is Han?

They sat in silence after their introductions. Felix was checking how his clothes survived the roughness of the past twenty four hours when he notices a small picture on his upper forearm. He tried rubbing at the three small circles, but they wouldn’t come off.

“Yeah, you won’t be getting that off either. It’s how they keep track of the people here, different pictures for different crimes.” Han pulls his frayed shirt sleeve up to his elbow, revealing his own picture. Only, instead of three small circles, his is three hexagons.

“How do you know?” Felix didn’t know if he should be impressed or intimidated, no one was supposed to know anything about Nine. Just that it’s not a place you want to be.

Han let out a small chuckle “I know a lot of things people don’t want me to know. It’s kind of the reason I'm here.”

Felix wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to that. Is okay to ask people why they were banished? Felix really didn’t want to accidentally offend Han. To be honest the boy kind of freaks him out. 

“So, what did you do to get sent to Hell on Earth?” The name made Felix crack a smile. Okay, so maybe he shouldn’t be so on edge around the boy. Even if he does know a suspicious amount about one of the most secretive places in the world.

Felix told the boy about how he got to where he is now. Han focused attentively on Felix's words, occasionally nodding his head to show he was listening. Felix made sure to leave out the part about his father working in the government. He can’t imagine Han would be too happy about that detail. 

“Wow, that sounds rough.” Hans eyes were left wide by Felix’s story. His heart shaped lips held a sympathetic smile. “My story is way less eventful. I was just caught hacking into some government database.”

Felix looked at the boy with wide eyes. Hacking into the government database is  _ extremely  _ illegal _. _ Not to mention nearly impossible. You have to be an incredible hacker to even break the first  _ layer  _ of codes protecting the database.

Han must have been able to see the look on Felix’s face through the darkness. The boy let out a small laugh accompanied by a shrug of his shoulders. “Oh come on, it’s really not that hard to do once you know how. It wasn’t even the first time I had done it, not by a long shot. It’s just the first time I was caught.” 

Felix is kind of startled by the nonchalant way that Han is speaking. It’s like the boy wasn’t even surprised about being caught. 

“So why were you so insistent on getting to Nine anyway?” Felix blinked at him in response. “Oh come on, no one starts singing in the middle of a crowded park if they aren't trying to get in trouble.” Han looked at him like he could read Felix like an book. Felix had no doubt he could.

“I have to find someone.” Felix looked down at his new tattoo. “He was sent there a long time ago. To be honest, he was kind of the only thing that kept me happy back home. It’s been torture without him.” Felix let out a small, bitter chuckle. “I think I have to find him to finally regain my sanity.”

“It sounds like you two were close. Is he your brother?”

“He might as well have been.” Felix shook his head with a smile. Felix had always thought as Chan of more of a brother than a cousin. “We were always together.”

“He sounds like an amazing person.”

“He really is.” Felix looked at Han for a moment. “So, do you have anybody you’re close to back home?”

Han’s face darkened slightly, his small smile turning bitter. “I used to. We weren't related or anything like that though.” Felix scooted up closer to the door, listening to Han’s every word.

“Where they your best friend or something?” Felix asked carefully. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt as though he was treading on dangerous territory.

Han let out a small laugh. His eyes were unfocused, like he was reliving an old memory. 

“Actually, um, we were a bit more than friends.” Han muttered these word quietly, like he was afraid of being judged. 

“Oh, sorry my bad.” Felix was kind of surprised, most people didn’t bother dating as our future partners were picked for us when we turn eighteen. Still though, it wasn’t unheard of. “So, what was she like?”

Han slightly turned from Felix as he muttered his next words.

“Actually, it’s a he.”

Felix could feel his heart stop for a moment. His eyes went comically wide as he tried to process what his new friend ( Can he call him that? ) had just revealed to him. 

Felix had never met a boy who likes other boys before. Don’t get him wrong, he knows that it used to happen all the time. But that was before the war. Almost two hundred years ago, there was a war that wiped out two thirds of the world population.

When society was rebuilt, the new government did everything in their power to help repopulate the earth. As a result, same-sex couples were prohibited as they could not make offspring. There was now a certain hatred of anything that didn’t benefit every person in a society. 

“You hate me now don’t you?” Han must have taken Felix’s surprised silence as disgust. Felix could see little drops of water falling from Hans face. “It’s okay, I'm used to it.”

“Oh my god no! No no no! I don’t hate you!” Felix rushed to assure his friend. “ Just a bit surprised, that’s all.” 

Han turned his head, scooting closer to the cell door. 

“You really don’t care that I like boys?” Felix’s heart hurt for his new friend. How many friends has the small boy lost due to this?

If he’s being honest, it is going to take Felix a little time to adjust to the thought of his friend being a boy who likes boys. But, somewhere deep inside, there a little spark of hope, that maybe he has found another person he can be himself with.

Felix shook his head and smiled at the boy. Han let a small smile grace his lips. 

“I would hug you if we weren't chained up.” The two boys let out a giggle. It felt nice to have someone to talk to after so long of being alone. There was something that was digging at Felix though.

“Earlier, you said that you ‘used’ to have someone you were close to. What happened to him?” Felix asked slowly, he didn’t want to step over any boundaries. Though he feels they were mostly passed being worried about boundaries by this point. It was strange how much Felix felt as though he could trust this boy.

Hans face fell. “I’m not really up to telling the story tonight. It’s kind of a long story.” Felix was really curious and really didn’t want to wait, but he nods his head. “How about we get some sleep, and I'll tell you in the morning.”

Felix nodded his head again. He tries not to let the relief of knowing he didn’t upset his friend again show. 

The boys move away from their cell doors, scooting deeper into the darkness of their holding cells. 

Felix was finally settling into a somewhat comfortable position when a question came to his mind. 

“Is Han really your name?” Felix hadn’t meant to ask in such a blunt way, but his curiosity spoke before he could. He heard a chuckle through the darkness.

“Actually no, Han’s my surname. I just thought that since I'm starting a new life, might as well pick a new name.” Felix couldn’t help but feel let down at the not very interesting explanation. 

“Oh.” The disappointment must have been evident in his voice. Han let out a snort.

“Sorry was that not exciting enough for you?” Despite his words, there was no real bite in his voice. “My name’s Jisung by the way. Han Jisung.” 

Felix repeated the name of his new friend carefully, testing out the new words on his tongue. Deciding he liked the way they sounded, Felix rolled over to his side, facing away from the cell door.

Just before he falls asleep, Felix hears a sleepy whisper from across the hallway. 

“Night Felix.”

“Goodnight Jisung.” Felix replies with a small smile as he finally drifts off into dreamland.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND WE'RE BACK!! I am so sorry for not updating for so long! School has kept me so busy, I haven't even had time to THINK about writing. I will try my absolute hardest to update as soon as possible. Promise <3 
> 
>  
> 
> P.S.   
> This isn't my best work, but I feel it's still an improvement from the last chaptes. I hope to grow mywriting skills by the end of this story so wish me luck! Feedback is always appreciated :) <3 Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading <3
> 
> Next chapter will also be set in the past.


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